"Crown Erosion Plan..."
Isabel murmured under her breath.
Hearing this, Isabel's feelings were incredibly complicated.
The shadow of her childhood was watching relatives she knew—or barely knew—die one after another because of the curse... Now, she had become Avalon's queen, and the curse had already become a thing of the past.
But only now did she learn that the ones who had initially set the entire affair in motion... had actually been her own parents?
"One iron nail missing, one horseshoe lost; one horseshoe lost, one warhorse lamed; one warhorse lamed, one battle lost; one battle lost, one kingdom lost..."
Isabel softly sang an old Avalon nursery rhyme.
It was a song she had heard when she was very young.
When she first heard it, she did not understand its meaning. When she heard it again, she had already become someone within the song.
But Iver narrowed his eyes slightly.
He had thought of more than Isabel had.
This was an old affair that almost nobody besides the people involved knew about. Prince Albert might not even have known that he had such a marriage engagement. But Queen Sophia, as the one who had brought it all together, certainly knew everything.
When the Old Duke personally led troops to attack during the Ten Day War, he should have known that the matter was connected to Prince Albert—especially since a member of the royal family had been poisoned before that. It was clearly the work of the Eagle Eye.
Sherlock also realized something. "So, that incident back then..."
His father, Arthur Hermes, had once been Avalon's Minister of Royal Affairs. His main responsibilities were planning and managing the royal family's various operations, as well as presiding over weddings and funerals. Most importantly, he was in charge of hiring, training, and managing